Matthew 5:43-48

DAY 38

Date: 2-9-25

Passage Title

Love Your Enemies

* Everything with an asterisk and is italicized and in purple is my own added words and thoughts and are not part of the actual verse or quote. 

Pray

Read scripture: Matthew 5:43-48

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(NIV 1984)

Q: If you were an apple tree, how would you know you were an apple tree?

How would anyone else know that you were an apple tree?

If you were a surgeon, how would you know that you are a surgeon? And how would other people know that you are a surgeon? 

If you were a musician, or a mechanic or a landscaper or a carpenter? 

There is an old saying that says, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7, which we will discuss later in the Sermon on the Mount, that “By their fruit you will recognize them.”

Q: What kind of fruit comes from “hating your enemies?”

NOTE of REVIEW: 

The last five sections in Matthew are: Murder, Adultery, Divorce, Oaths and Eye for Eye.  A general overview of these last five sections in Matthew 5 can be summarized by this: Jesus is teaching about the character of a true Christian. What does it really mean to be a Christian.

What are the characteristics of a true Christian? 

What distinguishes Believers from unbelievers. 

Part of what it means to be a Christian is being a person who NOT known for seeking vengeance, or revenge or retaliation. Jesus is showing us the way of non-vengeance and non-retaliation (see RC Sproul in his Expositional Commentary). Now we come to the sixth and last section in Matthew: Love your Enemies. In this section, Jesus takes this concept, or principle, of non-vengeance and non-retaliation to new heights, and we, as Christian’s who are called to be witnesses to a list and fallen world, need to apply these principles for living to our lives. In other words, we are not to retaliate, slap for slap. Do not return insult for insult. Do not return slander for slander. We are not to be people who are known to be people who pay back evil for evil. But, rather, we are to be people who overcome evil with good. We are to be people who are known to rise above the petty trading back and forth of hurts and insults and persecution for love. This is definitely OPPOSITE WORLD!

“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” (NIV) Romans 12:19

INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY METHOD

Observation. Interpretation. Application.

1. What does it say? (Observation) Or – what does it NOT say?
2. What does it mean? (Interpretation) Or – what does it NOT mean?
3. How does this apply to me? (Application)

Observation – What does it say?
Love your neighbor, yes, AND Love your enemies.

Interpretation – What does it mean?
Do not hate your enemies. Love them!

Examples:

1. The Chosen, Season 2, Ep.1
2. The Good Samaritan
3. The story of David and Saul

Application – How do I apply it to my life?

OVERVIEW of PASSAGE

For Christians to have an impact on the world around them, to be ambassadors for Christ and to represent Him well, we need to be different than the world around us. Jesus is the answer to every human problem. We need to be living examples. 

The MAIN POINT

Our book says on pg 70, (Holman Commentary) “Jesus explained through the parable of the good Samaritan that every human in our sphere of influence is our neighbor. Therefore, by definition, Christians are to love everyone and hate no one.“

APPLICATION

1. STAND ON THE TRUTH. Do not bend, waiver, twist or justify. Stand on solid ground. Stand on the Rock.
2. PRAY. Pray like crazy! Pray unceasingly, with passion and fervor and abandon. Give all your pain and hurt to Christ!
3. Put yourself in their shoes before you judge them. Try to understand the other person’s position, or hurt or pain. Go a mile, no, two, in the other person moccasins. Read the poem “Walk a Mile in His Moccasins.”
4. Do not give in to self-righteousness. 
5. We have all received grace upon grace from our Lord. So BE GRACIOUS 
6. BE UNDERSTANDING
7. BE PATIENT
8. BE KIND
9. DO NOT BE RUDE
10. DO NOT ENVY
11. DO NOT BE SELF-SEEKING
12. BE OTHER-CENTERED
13. LOVE NEVER FAILS!
14. Be slow to speak and quick to listen
15. Forgive. Remember – you were forgiven!
16. Be willing to be wronged for the sake of Christ
17. Proactively search for ways to be a peacemaker
18. LOVE is a VERB, an ACTION WORD
19. Be A BLESSING

RELAVANT VERSES

Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge (*like we said last week) or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. (*so – love your enemies!) (NIV)

Matthew 22:37-40
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(NIV)

Luke 6:32-36
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (*so – love your enemies!) (NIV)

Romans 13:8-10
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (*so – love your enemies!) (NIV)

Galatians 5:13-15
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (*so – love your enemies!) (NIV)

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.  (*so – love your enemies!) (NIV)

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Notes:

What kind of trees are poisonous?

Some of the many poisonous trees, including oleander, yew, rhododendron, manchineel, foxglove, strychnine, poison ivy, giant hogweed, and laburnum and others.

 It is said that the Manchineel is the deadliest tree on the planet. Supposedly, one touch from the tree’s sap or bark can causes blisters, and a single bite of its fruit can be fatal.

* Everything with an asterisk and is italicized and in purple is my own added words and thoughts and are not part of the actual verse or quote.